


Scattered (but the same)

by paperdream



Series: Finding Family [2]
Category: X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: Fantastic Racism, Gen, Lorna reminds us that being thirteen is hard, On the Run, Peter would be so grounded if Wanda were in charge, Post-X-Men: Days of Future Past, Sibling Love, dadneto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-04-10
Packaged: 2018-03-20 19:32:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3662325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperdream/pseuds/paperdream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Magneto's attack on the White House, Peter, Wanda, and Lorna have to react quickly.<br/>This doesn't mean that they react well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Peter

            Staying home from the class trip to some dumb museum in Virginia was the best decision Peter ever made.

            At the time, it was a decision based on his utter lack of desire to be stuck in a tiny bus with several dozen people who move too slow for three to four hours, then walk around looking at dumb exhibits about dead guys.

            In retrospect, if staying home meant he got to break into the _Pentagon_ with some homeless British guy, an A-grade nerd, and some dude with claws, Peter would stay home every day for the rest of his life.

            He thought he did an admirable job hiding his surprise at the man he was being asked to break out looking exactly like the guy in the only picture he and Wanda had of their real mom.

            “You know, my mom knew a guy like that, once.”

            That was plenty subtle. There was no reason for the guy to stiffen and look so uncomfortable unless that meant something, right?

            Peter won’t think about how it felt to move bullets like they were standing still, knowing that flicking one in a different direction could have turned it around so that it hit their attackers instead.

            Instead, he thinks about how agreeing to return the homeless British guy’s- his IDs said Charles Xavier, but that just wasn’t as catchy- rental car was probably not the best idea. If he didn’t have to keep with the pace of the painfully slow commuters on the highway, Peter could be home by now, playing a game with Karen and acting like he didn’t just do the coolest thing ever.

            Did he remember to leave Mom a note? If he did, could that be used as evidence? Now that he thinks of it, breaking into the Pentagon is _almost definitely_ illegal.

*

            Breaking into the Pentagon was a terrible, terrible idea. There’s no possible way that the man on the TV isn’t the guy Peter broke out of prison.

            Sitting in front of the TV with Karen in his lap is the first time Peter’s ever been unable to move. He can’t tear his eyes away from the TV.

            This is his fault. If the guy on TV- he says his name is Magneto, but the homeless British guy called him Erik- kills the president, it will be Peter’s fault, even if no one knows. Magneto’s ranting about mutant kind. Peter guesses that that means there’s a name for what he and Wanda are, but he can’t bring himself to care.

            The phone rings, and Peter almost falls over before running over at top speed.

            “Hello? Maximoff residence?” His voice cracks, and he can’t stop his hands from shaking.

            “Pietro! Are you all right? That’s only a few miles away from home, are you okay?” Wanda’s voice calms him down a little bit, but not much. If she’s using his real name, she must be almost as panicked as he is.

            “Yeah, I’m fine. Mom and Karen are fine, too. Are you coming home?”

            “Yes, we’re about to get back on the bus, they just wanted everyone to call their parents and tell them we’re coming home early.”

            They stay quiet for a minute, taking refuge in the sounds of one another’s breathing, before Wanda speaks again, “What did you do, Peter?”

            Peter stiffens. Of course she knows. Wanda can always tell when he’s done something he shouldn’t have, and now she knows he released a maniac from jail.

            “I broke the guy trying to kill the president out of jail.” He says it quietly, barely above a whisper, but he knows Wanda heard him when she gasps.

            “Pietro, you idiot!” She almost screams it into the phone, and Peter has to hold his end about a foot away from his ear to avoid being deafened.

            “I know! I… just get home, please? Is there anything you can do?”

            “It’s _too late now_! You know how much trouble I have altering events once they’ve begun!”

            Wanda hangs up, not even bothering to say goodbye.


	2. Wanda

            Going on the class trip to Virginia was the worst decision Wanda ever made. It would figure that, one of the only times she’s ever left her brother alone, he would do _this_.

            She’s sick to her stomach the entire bus ride home. Everyone is chattering about what little information they have. They only know what happened through what everyone’s families were able to tell them and the few minutes of news coverage hey were able to catch.

            One girl is crying. Her dad’s a reporter, and he was supposed to be attending the press conference.

            Wanda has fought off the crush of teenaged bodies to keep a seat to herself. She’s curled up against the wall of the bus, trying everything she knows with her hands stuffed in her coat to hide the red glow from her classmates.

            Someone heard the attack has something to do with mutants- people born weird, with powers not possessed by _normal_ people. Wanda feels sick to her stomach.

            Someone else heard that mutants are going to exterminate humanity. This doesn’t take long to spread; soon everyone is muttering about mutants and the threat they pose.

            “Someone ought to round them all up and kill them!” The speaker was met with mutters of approval and applause from his friends.

            Wanda clenched her teeth. If she made sure that he would spill his water bottle directly on his crotch just as all his friends were looking away… well, she was under a lot of stress. No one could blame her.

*

            By the time the bus gets back to the high school, the whole mess is over with. Peter is there, waiting to take Wanda home. They wander out around the back of the school before he picks her up and runs home.

            As soon as she’s been set down safely down on the living room floor, Wanda shoves Peter so hard he pinwheels into the wall, arms flailing ridiculously.

            “What are you doing? Wanda!”

            “You idiot!” she screams, hands flaring with red light that flickers like an angry flame. “What were you thinking?”

            “I didn’t know! Wanda, I didn’t! I thought they’d locked him up by mistake-”

            “ _Mistake_? They don’t just _accidentally_ put people in prison! Pietro Django Maximoff, you idiot! This isn’t some donuts from the gas station!” She swings an arm, and Peter barely manages to dodge out of the way in time. He lands on the couch, and Wanda realizes that he’s started crying.

            “I’m sorry, I know it was dumb thing to do, but the guys who asked me to help seemed like stand up guys! And then I thought it was okay because _he looks just like the guy in the picture of our mom._ ”

            Peter’s curled up on the couch, hands protecting his head and tears streaking his cheeks. Wanda deflates. “What do you mean, he looked the man in the picture?”

            “I mean they were identical! He’s older now, but he can control metal, and when I said our mom knew a guy who could do that he didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was freaking out, Wanda!”

            Wanda sits down on the couch next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “What are we going to do? Everyone’s freaking out about people like us-”

            “Mutants,” he supplies.

            “Whatever! Everyone’s freaking out! What if you get arrested, for real this time?” Wanda starts crying to, and they stay like that, wrapped around each other, until Mom comes in and sees them.

            “What happened?” Karen appears in the doorway behind her, but Mom waves her away.

            “I’m-the-one-who-let-the-guy-on-the-news-out-of-jail-and-we-think-he-knew-our-mom-and-everyone’s-talking-about-killing-mutants-and-what-are-we-gonna-do?” Peter’s words stumble over one another, blurring together as he talks faster and faster.

            Mom squeezes onto the couch along with them and wraps them in a hug, even though they’re much too old. “It’ll be okay. I’m going to make hot chocolate, and we’re going to put Karen to bed. I’ll stay up with you, okay? Everything will be all right.”


	3. Lorna

            Everyone else is acting worried about the man on the news, but Lorna’s never been more excited in her life. The man on the news calls himself Magneto and she savors the name, likes how it feels on her tongue.

            He’s charismatic, and practically crackles with power. His speeches are entrancing.

            The most important part, of course, is that Magneto is _just like her_. On the news, he tossed bits of metal aside like toys, lifted up an entire football stadium by the metal in its foundations.

            Aunt Judy got a pinched look on her face when she saw him, and told Lorna to turn the news off. This serves only to reinforce Lorna’s conviction that _this man is just like her._

            Lorna starts making plans to run away. If Aunt Judy and Uncle Daniel won’t take her to look for him, she’ll go looking on her own. The things he says in his big speech sound like he’s collecting people like them- other mutants.

            For a while, Lorna was afraid that she’d never find him; the news said he’d been taken into custody. Her worry was unfounded; about six hours later they were reporting that he had escaped.

            Every hour, there are more and more details coming to light. Lorna keeps the news playing quietly while she packs.

            “The mutant terrorist known as Magneto is believed to have escaped from a secure facility beneath the Pentagon with the aid of other mutant collaborators.”

            Lorna stops folding t-shirts long enough to pay attention to this. If she’s going to find Magneto, it can only help to know who he’s working with.

            “Magneto was being held in this facility after being suspected in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.” The news anchor’s voice is thick with the excitement of such a juicy scoop, “Instrumental in his release was a man suspected to be Pietro Maximoff, known as Peter to his friends, a teenage suspected mutant. Reports from his teachers and classmates indicate that Maximoff may be able to reach incredible speeds when he runs, and also indicate that his twin sister, Wanda, may also be a mutant.” What are obviously school pictures of two teenagers flash on the screen. The boy has silver hair and a dorky expression that says he wasn’t pay attention when the camera flashed. The girl has long dark hair and fiercely intelligent eyes, as well as an obvious resemblance to her brother. Lorna does her best to commit their faces to memory.

            “If the pair are seen, they should not be approached. Any sightings should be reported to the police so that they may be taken in for questioning.”

            If other mutants are being identified by their hair, Lorna should probably do something about hers. She twirls a strand between her fingers, considering, before moving over to her desk and picking up a pair of scissors and hacking the hair into a short pixie cut. She pulls a knit cap over the remains of her hair and throws the cut off strands away before resuming her packing.

            Lorna’s last act before leaving her Aunt and Uncle’s house, duffel bag slung over her shoulder, is to open up the cookie jar Aunt Judy keeps on top of the refrigerator and digging out the money hidden within. Combined with her savings, Lorna now has a little over $700. That should be plenty.

            She locks the door behind her and hides the key under the potted plant again.

            She doesn’t leave a note.


	4. Peter

            The morning after the disaster, Mom has something important on her mind, even Peter can tell. She’s biting her lip and fidgeting as she pours Karen’s cereal.

            “What’s up, Mom?” he finally asks. It’s probably only a few minutes later, but he’s distracted, and it feels like several hours.

            “They suspect you. They think- know- you’re both mutants, and they’ve been showing Peter’s picture on the news.” She looks like her heart is breaking as she says it, but she says it anyway, “I think you and Wanda should leave. I couldn’t bear to see you arrested. If they come to arrest you, there won’t be any coming back this time.”

            Wanda smiles shakily, “It’s all right, Mom. You’re right, we’ll be safer if we run. Come on, Peter, let’s go pack.” She skips up the stairs into her and Karen’s room.

            Peter looks at Mom, wanting her to say that it will be okay, that they don’t have to leave. She bites her lip, “You should hurry.”

            He runs downstairs as fast as he can. He shoves everything he can see into the biggest duffel bag he can find. His goggles, jacket, and Walkman go in first, followed by as many spare sets of clothes as he can manage.

            He looks at the heap already bulging out of the bag, and dumps it all out again. He picks up the clothes and folds them, trying to hurry but still keep the resulting bundles compact and manageable, stacking them all on the bed.

            He adds a couple of blankets and extra cassette tapes to the piles on the bed, along with his coat and another pair of shoes.

            Peter looks wildly around the room, searching for anything else important. His school ID, driver’s license, and wallet go on the pile as well. He could steal anything they need, but Wanda won’t like that, and it’s a bad idea to get into still more trouble.

            He shoves everything into the bag, until the seams are bursting and the zipper barely closes. Last of all, he smashes the piggy bank Mom keeps putting money in, in hopes that its presence would inspire him to put in the effort necessary to get to college.

            He scoops up the money, shoving the change in a pocket and rubber banding the bills into a mostly-neat stack. Silently, he’s thankful that Mom never trusted banks.

            Peter runs upstairs to find Wanda using her powers more overtly than he’s ever seen. She’s flinging clothes across the room, folding them in midair into more compact bundles than he could ever manage. Wanda herself is using her free hand to page through the dictionary where she keeps her treasures.

            He runs over and flips the dictionary upside down, shaking it until eh shower of pictures and pressed flowers and unused stickers and notes ends.

            Wanda starts pawing through the haphazard pile, grabbing what she wanted.

            The picture of their mom and the picture they took of the whole family are the only things that get tucked into her wallet. The rest is abandoned on the floor as Wanda rushes over to the piggy bank identical to Peter’s that sits in her own room.

            It smashes in a barrage of broken ceramic and flying nickels. Hers is fuller than Peter’s and she paws it into a stack.

            “Oh!” Peter holds his own stack out to Wanda. She was always more responsible, anyway.

            The stack of loose bills is shoved down Wanda’s shirt as the last few objects fly into Wanda’s duffel bag. She zips it closed with an air of finality.

            They both race down the stairs, back to the breakfast table. Mom has a bag of non-perishable food waiting. “I packed you plenty of food, and some sandwiches for lunch. As soon as it’s safe to come home, I’ll let you know.”

            Wanda takes that bag and sweeps Mom into a hug. Peter joins her, and for a moment they stand there in a tight bundle of humanity.

            “Mom? Are Peter and Wanda going to be okay?” Karen speaks, and Peter extricates himself from the group.

            He picks Karen up and ruffles her hair, planting a kiss on her forehead, “Of course we will. It’ll all be okay in the end. We love you, even if we can’t see you, got it?”

            Karen nods, and he sets her back down, grabbing Wanda instead.

            Wanda nods, “Love you.” Peter runs them out the door and starts heading north.


	5. Wanda

            They’ve been on the run less than a day when Wanda’s face joins Peter’s on the news in the tiny televisions in the tiny gas stations where they stop to grab quick, high-sugar snacks for Peter. Wanda adds a pair of scissors, a razor, a lighter, two knit caps, several bottles of red hair dye, and several more of peroxide to the little pile of supplies.

            They cut Peter’s hair almost to the scalp, and Wanda’s into an asymmetrical bob. They dye his hair red and hers blond- “Everyone is looking for twins, Peter. We need to look as different as possible.”- and burn the shorn scraps of brown and silver hair before stowing the caps into the bag to use when their roots begin to grown out.

*

            They’ve been away from home for barely a week when the Foundation for the Protection of Humanity starts popping up. When their alone in crappy motel rooms or abandoned sheds, Peter is vocal about how idiotic he thinks the name is.

            Wanda doesn’t care what they call themselves. What matters to her is that they’re calling for the reclassification of mutants as a separate species, and requesting that they be removed from the general populace. Whatever happens next is never really mentioned. Wanda isn’t sure it needs to be.

            The FPH isn’t technically sanctioned by any branch of the government, as far as Wanda knows, but that doesn’t stop police departments from adding FPH units with alarming rapidity. They’re armed with enough different types of ammunition to take down just about anyone, and they have little devices that tell them when there’s a mutant in the area. The news does an interest piece on the FPH and the wonderful work they’re doing for humanity.

            Wanda and Peter avoid them to the best of their ability.

            Wanda can’t decide whether to be pleased or angry or ashamed whenever she sees a news report about Magneto and the “Brotherhood” he’s forming taking out another unit.

            The only bright spot is the occasional interviews with Professor Charles Xavier- Peter calls him “homeless British guy”, and Wanda doesn’t think it’s worth the inquiry- and his pleas for peace. He, at least, seems to think that mutants might not be all bad.

             Maybe his voice will be enough.

 


	6. Lorna

            Magneto has been taking out FPH units left and right. Given what they’re doing to mutants, Lorna thinks that sounds like an excellent idea.

            She isn’t stupid, so she stocks up on everything she can imagine needing before she starts. By the time she’s ready to start, Lorna has enough food to last through the apocalypse, a series of bus tickets that will eventually take her to Hartford, Connecticut- most of Magneto’s activity seems to be in that general area- and enough makeup that she feels reasonably confident in her ability to disguise herself _without_ dying her hair- the handful of times Magneto’s been on the news since the White House, he’s talked about how they should be proud of their mutations.

            She picks a unit in a small town where one leg of her journey ends. It’s small, and she feels plenty prepared to handle it.

            Lorna follows them around town, waiting for an opportune moment. She finds it when they corner a girl a few years older than her.

            “Hey, mutie!” Several of them start shouting the slur, and the girl flinches. The leader gestures for them to pull out their weapons, and Lorna grins.

            She pulls the guns from their hands, knocking two of them out.

            “Magneto?” One of them yells, looking for her hiding spot.

            That irks her. Fellow mutant or not, Lorna doesn’t want anyone getting credit for what she does. She yanks her cap off, stows her stuff in a crevice, and steps out, hands outstretched dramatically and what’s left over her hair shining.

            She makes sure they’ve seen her before knocking the rest out with their own weapons. To the girl, now staring, she says, “You should get out of here. Away from these freaks.” The girl nods, and runs out of the alley. Lorna collects the weapons and takes them back to her hiding place. She stows them in her bag- maybe she can pawn them next time she runs low on cash.

She yanks her cap back on and goes to the bus stop to wait for her bus.

*

            Lorna doesn’t think she’s ever been as proud as she is when she sees the news item about an unknown mutant with powers apparently identical to Magneto’s and green hair taking out a FPH unit.

            She’s significantly less proud when she sees that the news has dubbed her Magneta.

            Lorna Dane is her own person. She is not a knockoff or remake of anyone. She needs to come up with something else to call herself.

*

            Two things become clear the next time she takes out an FPH unit.

            First, “I am Polaris!” sounds way, _way_ cooler out loud than it ever did in her head.

            Second, maybe leaving the FPH guys alive isn’t the best idea. They multiply like rabbits, units getting bigger and bigger and “Support your local chapter” badges popping up on civilians.

            After all, Magneto doesn’t leave the units _he_ handles alive. Why should Lorna?

 

 


	7. Erik

            Sometimes, Erik could swear that the government has never heard of buses. Everyone is all worked up about how he’s been active in Connecticut, and residents should avoid non-essential travel and tourism to the state is a bad idea.

            It’s never occurred to anyone that he could take off the helmet, get on a bus, and head back down to DC. Charles had mentioned that the boy who helped in the break out lived near there. The kid didn’t seem to have much of an aversion to criminal activity. He could be a valuable asset.

            Erik is _not_ letting himself think about what the kid had said in the elevator. Surely he couldn’t be the _only_ one who could control metal. Or perhaps the boy had misheard, or misunderstood a metaphor.

            It takes all the nerve he has to knock on the door of the little suburban house. He’s positive this is the right one; there can only be so many Maximoffs in the area, right?

            A woman opens the door, peering around the corner with shrewd eyes that are almost buried under layers of dark circles under her eyes. “What do you want?”

            He doffs the hat he picked up somewhere to disguise his identity, twisting it between his hands and utterly mutilating the stiff brim, “I was looking for-”

            She’s shutting the door before he even finishes his sentence, and he barely manages to shove his foot in the opening in time. He barely suppresses a wince as the door bangs against it. The woman glares at him, “Go away, or I will call the police.”

            “You didn’t even let me finish!”

            “I don’t need to. You ruined both their lives, and the only reason I haven’t already called the cops is that Magda would be against it! I owe her that much.” She starts trying to subtly lean against the door, pressing in on his foot and creasing the leather of his shoe.

            Erik’s mouth goes dry. “I beg your pardon?”

            “Karen! Get me the phone!” the woman calls into the house before turning to him, “You ruined Peter and Wanda’s lives. They had such futures, Peter finally stopped stealing so much, and you ruined it all! If you have any affection for them, you’ll leave and never come back. They want nothing to do with you.”

            “I’m sorry,” he presses a hand against the door frame and starts trying to lever it open with his physical strength and the metal in the doorknob. “I’m afraid we’ve misunderstood each other- please! I just wanted to talk to your son! I don’t know anything about, about…”

            Magda’s name goes unspoken. He can’t bring himself to say it, even if the woman is only talking about someone who shares the name.

            “Mom?” a young voice pipes up, further in the house. Just over the woman’s shoulder he can see a small girl, six or seven years old, holding the receiver of a phone. The curlicue cord spirals behind her, into another room.

            The woman in the doorway glances back and force between him and her daughter, obviously aware of his… reputation and put on edge.

            It’s a cruel thing to do, but Erik’s never been one to pass up an opportunity. “If you let me come in, and explain what you said about… the things you said, I swear I won’t do anything to harm you or your daughter.” He crinkles the hinges of the door just a bit to get his point across.

            The woman twitches, sucking in a breath before opening the door all the way. “Karen, put the phone away and go to your room.” The little girl obeys, sensing her mother’s fear.

            The woman leads him into a side room, the family’s living room.

            He sits in an armchair across from the position she takes on the couch. She’s glaring at him.

            He tries for a bit of politeness, “You know who I am, but I don’t know your name?”

            “Marya.” Her hands are clenched in the upholstery, and she takes a moment to loosen them before continuing. “So. You’re Magda’s mystery man from all those years ago. _Magnus_. Or, should I call you Magneto?” She spits both names as if they’re something dirty, but Erik barely notices.

            His throat is closing up as he says, “You knew Magda?”

            This, evidently, takes her by surprise, and a bit of the dislike in her eyes fades, “You don’t know, do you?” Her mouth twists into a wry smile as he shakes his head, “ _You_ got Magda pregnant, and you don’t even know.”

            His stomach is sinking fast. This was impossible, she has to be lying.

            Except, a small, niggling voice says, Magda left so fast she might not have known herself.

            “Please, tell me.”

            “The twins, Peter and Wanda. They’re your children and they’re running for their lives because of _you_.”


	8. Wanda

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, a moderately happy chapter!

            They’ve finally stopped running for the day, and Wanda is leaning against Peter’s shoulder in the dingy corner booth of a restaurant not yet paranoid enough to have installed scanners to keep mutants out. As an extra bonus, the TV in the corner has been showing ESPN all evening instead of the news, reducing the chances that they’ll be spotted.

            The bar itself is mostly empty aside from them.  There’s a couple sappily feeding each other onion rings, and a burly man tossing back beers at the bar, but no one else.

Wanda ordered them both a hamburger and a side of fries, and Peter is making short work of them, even though he has to eat slowly to avoid suspicion. Wanda polished off a granola bar.

“Hey, Dex, switch it to the news,” the burly man says, drunkenly waving at the TV in the corner. Peter stiffens for a moment before going back to his fries. Wanda can’t take her eyes off of the TV as the image flickers and switches to a twiggy blonde talking about Magneto.

Three more men come in, and Wanda starts gathering her stuff, ready to ask for their bill. The men join Burly at the bar and start ordering beers. Wanda signals for Peter to hurry up and finish.

The men at the bar have all ploughed through at least one beer apiece by the time Wanda is able to signal for their check. As the single, harried man at the bar slides out and starts making his way over to them. Out of the corner of her eye, Wanda sees Peter’s terrible school picture flash onto the screen.

“’F I ever see one of those mutie freaks, I’ll shoot ‘im.” One of the men at the bar is standing and gesturing at the TV, and next to Wanda, Peter stiffens.

“Easy,” she hisses. The check finally gets to their table, and Wanda shoves some money into the man’s hands and stands to leave.

Peter trails behind her, fists clenching. They make it out the door and Wanda gives a sigh of relief. “It’s fine, we made it.”

*

            Their eighteenth birthday passes quietly. Wanda only remembers it because while they’re stopping to rest, Peter vanishes and comes back with a pair of ice cream cones. “Happy birthday.”

            She grins, toasting him, “Happy birthday.”

            Peter goes in for a bite of ice cream and manages to nose dive right in, covering his face with rocky road. Wanda laughs as a marshmallow drips off the end of his nose.

           


End file.
